Prisons, GSU in Tunisia for volleyball club championships
Kenya Prisons and General Service Unit (GSU) safely arrived in Tunisia on Thursday afternoon, in readiness for the African men Club Volleyball Championship in Sousse.
The two Kenyan clubs face an enormous task in their latest bid to curtail the North African dominance at this competition, a task trainers of both teams say is feasible. The draw for this competition is set for Friday evening.
“Our technical team has worked more on game reading, tactics, and patterns on how we lose or gain points during a set. This has become a vital component in matches and am certain you will see the returns,” Prisons coach Gideon Chenje told Nairobi News before the team’s departure.
Kenya’s representatives at this event have repeatedly lagged behind their North Africans rivals, with no local club having won this competition since its inception 33 years ago.
DOMINANT SIDES
This statistic has been attributed to the gulf in class in training methods, technical ability and state of infrastructure between the competitors.
North African clubs drawn from Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria have between them won all the titles on offer at the event with the likes of Al Ahly, Zamalek (both Egypt), CS Sfaxien, Esperance (both Tunisia) and MC Alger (Algeria) the dominant sides.
GSU beat Uganda’s Nemo Stars, Muger Cement (Senegal) and PA Douala (Cameroon), but lost to Libya’s Ahly Benghazi, Esperance (Tunisia) and enroute to attaining a ninth place finish at the previous edition of the 21 team tournament.
Prisons meanwhile settled for tenth place after losing to Cameroonian club FAP Yaoundé, Egypt’s Al Ahly, Libya’s Ahly Tripoli before recovering to beat Senegalese club Beau Vallon.